Alberto-Culver, whose products range from Nexxus shampoo to Mrs. Dash seasoning, reported third-quarter results on Monday. Sales growth was better-than-expected, driven by the TRESemme and Nexxus brands, but St. Ives lotions struggled.
 
In an interview, President and Chief Executive V. James Marino said the company plans to launch a retooled line of Alberto VO5 styling products this quarter aimed at a younger consumer. He also said that the company will increase advertising spending in the current fiscal fourth quarter, just as it did in the third quarter.

In the following excerpt, Marino comments about consumer trends:
 
Q: Do consumers seem to still be treating themselves to little luxuries like a new hairstyling product or things like that, or are people getting more concerned about gas prices, the housing slump and the market (decline) we saw last week?
    
A: We haven’t really seen that, in these categories at least. What we do know is the consumer is not taking as many trips to the store as they have before and I’m sure that’s a function of gas prices, that kind of thing. But apparently when they’re there … the purchase habits continue to be about the same.

Hair care in the U.S. has never been a big growth category, it’s a big category, and it continues to grow in low single digits, which is not a whole lot different than what it has been for quite some time, so I don’t see a whole lot of change there. Likewise, if you look at the styling sub-segment the same is true, it’s low single digit growth.

When you get into skin care, growth rates tend to be up a little bit more … in hand and body lotion and body wash … as well as facial skin care. So, the trends seem pretty consistent in terms of category growth which tells me what we’ve been saying before … this whole notion of small indulgences for the consumer not being able to afford some of the higher ticket items that they may want.

They’re still going to spend a little bit more on themselves for some personal gratification, and I think our categories fall right into that buying habit.

(Photo from company Web site)